Maine Legislature Passes Moratorium on Data Centers

The legislature voted in favor of a bill that would put a temporary moratorium on data centers in Maine. This is a first in the United States.

Rep. Melanie Sachs is the bill's sponsor. She said that this is an attempt to make sure Maine is ready for these types of centers and is focused on the infrastructure needed for these facilities.

It would require the Department of Energy Resources to create the Maine Data Center Coordination Council to ensure that Maine is ready for data centers.

Gov. Janet Mills has supported an exemption to this law for the Jay Paper Mill.

"The Governor agrees with lawmakers that the rapid growth of large-scale AI data centers warrants careful evaluation of impacts on public resources, the environment, and Maine ratepayers, and she supports a moratorium as put forth in LD 307 to ensure those impacts are fully understood," a spokesperson for Mills said in an email.